The Relation of the Executive Power to Legislation

distinct? Should we now attempt the experiment of superimposing upon the present structure of our government the chief features of the parliamentary or cabinet system as practiced in England and France, as least to the extent of formally giving to the executive officers of the nation and the states direct access to the legislative bodies, the right to frame and introduce their own bills, to claim precedence for administration measures, to support them in debate, and to expedite and secure their passage with the weight and power of the executive arm? It is very seriously proposed, and by persons whose opinions are entitled to the highest respect, that just this should be done. Even so wise and conservative a statesman as ex-Governor McCall of Massachusetts, if correctly quoted in an interview published not long since,1 thinks that "we cannot amble along in this country on the very pleasant pathway of the old theory of division of powers, 1 The New York Times, Magazine Section, July 22, 1917. so that one organ of government vetoes another and we have difficulty in getting anywhere. In a crisis like the present, when the safety of the country depends on the promptest possible action in preparation for war, a ministry responsible to an elected assembly would bring forward the measures that in its judgment are required; and while these measures would be open to debate and amendment, they would be pressed to a speedy conclusion and there would not be the da...